Pirates: Martial Arts Masters on the Straw Hat Ship

Many diners in the restaurant couldn't help but laugh out loud, and even the female companion opposite Herbodi couldn't help but cover her mouth and shrug her shoulders slightly.

For Herbodi, who was extremely concerned about his image, this laughter was nothing short of a resounding slap in the face.

His face instantly turned a deep purplish-red, veins bulging on his forehead, the flames of rage completely consuming his reason.

"You bastard! What kind of joke is this?!"

"Bang--!!"

Herbodi suddenly stood up and slammed his powerful fist onto the table!

This punch, delivered with fury, shattered the solid wood dining table into pieces in an instant.

The exquisite porcelain plate shattered on the ground, and the soup that had been painstakingly prepared, the carefully cooked steak, and the red wine were all spilled all over the carpet, leaving a mess.

The laughter around them stopped abruptly, and the diners watched in horror.

However, Sanji, who was at the center of the storm, didn't even blink.

He slowly squatted down, gently dipped his slender fingers into a little of the spilled soup, smelled it, and then put it in his mouth to taste it.

His eyes changed.

The nonchalant swagger that had been there before vanished, replaced by a chilling coldness—the chef's extreme anger at the food being ruined.

"If we remove that bug, then we can drink it, right?"

Sanji's voice was low and hoarse, filled with suppressed anger: "This is... a soup that took three days and three nights to carefully remove the bitterness from."

"Stop arguing!"

Hebodi was even more furious when he saw that the other dared to talk back.

He raised his booted foot and stomped hard on Sanji's hand, which was on the ground!

They even ground it down hard!

"Isn't your attitude a bit too arrogant, waiter?"

Hebdo roared condescendingly, his face contorted with savage glee: "I'm a guest! A paying guest! The customer is king, don't you understand?!"

If it were an ordinary person, their hand would have screamed and begged for mercy long ago after being trampled on like that.

But Sanji just stared quietly at the wasted food on the ground, letting his hands be trampled underfoot, as if he felt no pain.

He slowly raised his head, his right eye, the only eye exposed, staring coldly at Hebdo, and asked the question that had haunted him throughout his life:

"Can money...fill your stomach?"

This question startled Herbodi: "Wh...what?"

Sanji suddenly stood up, and the hand that had been stepped on instantly clamped down on Hepburn's ankle like an iron clamp!

"I'll ask you one more time..."

Sanji's voice was like a chilling wind from hell:

"Money! Can it even fill an empty stomach?!"

"Whoosh—!!"

Before he could finish speaking, Sanji moved.

Instead of pushing with his hands, he used his left foot as a pivot, his whole body spinning like a top, his right leg transforming into a black lightning bolt, accompanied by a sharp whooshing sound, striking Hebdodi hard on the chin from below!

"Bang!!"

A sickeningly loud crash of flesh and bone rang out.

Herbodi's tall body was as if he had been hit by a speeding truck. He tumbled twice in the air before crashing heavily against the ceiling and then falling to the ground like a dead dog.

"Pfft—!"

Two streams of bright red blood spurted from Herbodi's nostrils. His eyes rolled back, and he passed out without even letting out a scream.

The entire room fell silent.

Everyone stared in disbelief at the scene.

No one expected that this seemingly refined waiter would actually kill a naval captain with a single kick!

Sanji straightened his slightly disheveled suit and tie, and walked with elegant steps to the unconscious Hepburn.

He grabbed Herbodi by the collar with one hand and lifted him up like a piece of trash.

Sanji took a cigarette out of his pocket, put it in his mouth, and lit it with a "snap".

He took a deep breath, and amidst the swirling smoke, his cold voice echoed in the deathly silent restaurant:

"On this vast ocean... it's better to offend a naval admiral than a cook."

"because--"

Sanji's eyes were icy cold:

"Going against the chef at sea is tantamount to suicide! Remember that!"

......

Barradi, the main restaurant on the sea.

The afternoon sun streamed into the room through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, making the deep red carpet appear exceptionally vibrant.

The air was originally filled with the aroma of red wine and steak, but after the naval captain Hebdo was kicked unconscious, a subtle, suffocating silence enveloped the entire place.

Luffy, however, was completely unaffected by the somber atmosphere.

He sat cross-legged on the chair, arms crossed, his gaze fixed on the blond chef who was lighting a cigarette, a wide grin spreading across his face.

"I've found our chef."

"ha?"

Zoro, who was about to complain, and Usopp, who was still trembling, were both stunned, their faces full of question marks.

Luffy pointed a finger directly at Sanji, who was exhaling a smoke ring and wearing a cool expression, not far away, his tone firm and unwavering:

"I want him to be our chef!"

Ronan picked up his teacup, took a small sip, and thought to himself:

"As expected of Luffy, that beast-like intuition allowed him to see through Sanji's seemingly cold exterior and discover his yearning for the sea and his dreams."

However, as the team's "common sense expert," Ronan still timely poured cold water on things:

"Luffy, people might not agree to let a chef with a respectable job in such a high-class restaurant go and become a pirate with an uncertain future."

"Hehe!" Luffy adjusted his straw hat, his eyes sparkling with confidence.

"Leave it to me! I'll get him on our ship! Once I've set my sights on someone, he won't get away!"

Just then, the restaurant door, which had been tightly closed, was suddenly pushed open.

A naval soldier stumbled in, his cap askew and his face contorted with terror.

Ignoring the surprised looks from the surrounding diners, he pounced on Hebdo, who had already woken up and was groaning while clutching his chin.

"Captain... Captain Hepody! No... something terrible has happened!"

The soldier's voice trembled with fear, choked with sobs: "We...we let that prisoner from the Krieg Pirates escape!"

Despite the excruciating pain, Hebdo grabbed the soldier by the collar and roared incredulously:

"What did you say?! You escaped?!"

"How is that possible! When we caught him three days ago, he was practically starving to death!"

"We haven't given him a single drop of water in the past three days! Where did he get the strength to run away?!"

"Krieg...the Pirates?!"

The word seemed to possess a certain magic, instantly detonating an invisible bomb in the spacious restaurant.

The guests, who had been whispering amongst themselves, turned deathly pale in an instant.

An elegant lady accidentally knocked over her wine glass, and the gentlemen's forks fell onto their plates with a jarring thud.

"Hey...did I hear that right? They said it was Krieg's gang?"

"That strongest pirate crew, boasting a fleet of fifty pirate ships and hailed as the 'Lords of the East Blue'?!"

Fear spread like a plague.

In the East Blue, Krieg's name represents absolute violence and destruction.